Waking Up to Being a Character in a Dream
What can be done to help a character in a dream? Is the answer to make it a better dream for this character? Or is a better solution to wake up to being a character in a dream?
To be a character in a dream requires having a unique perspective. It is this that creates the sense of separation between the character and the rest of the dream landscape. All suffering in the dream arises due to this sense of separation. Of course, no such division actually exists because the entire dream belongs to the dreamer.
Any attempt to improve the situation for the dream character actually requires reducing the sense of separation (e.g. giving the character more control over the dream landscape). This means expanding the sense of ‘I’ beyond the perspective of the limited character. The ultimate solution then is to wake up to being a character in a dream.
Now, we might well ask, why can’t the dream character just take control the dream? Answer, no such entity exists independently of the dream. Any sense of control belongs to the dream and not the dream character. In other words, the character only ever has an illusion of control.
Being a character in a dream is always going to involve limitation. There is no way around it. That’s what a dream character is (a dream that is being limited by a certain perspective). The suffering the dream character experiences is due to this limitation. Escape from suffering can only come from escaping the limitations of the dream character.
The dream character doesn’t wake up because it is this limited perspective that is the source of suffering.
